The Price of Freedom (To Be Free Rewrite)
by Scarlet Phlame
Summary: ""I don't want power. I want to be free!" Regina exclaimed, a smile so small it was almost not there smile snaking its way across her features in the hot light. Why couldn't her mother understand? Freedom didn't seem like much to ask for, to hope for. She didn't want to feel like her mother owned her." ONESHOT. (I do not own anything.) My 100th story here! Rewrite of "To Be Free".


_**On November 17th, 2012, I created this FanFiction account and posted my first story, Once Upon A Disaster, the very same day. However, it was eventually taken down and transferred to DeviantArt. I waited ten more days, until November 27th, 2012, to post this story. It serves as my first.**_

_**I joked with myself that if I posted ninety-nine FanFictions on this site, I would go back, copy&paste this into a Doc Manager doc, and then edit the entire thing out, not long before posting this as my 100th story. (Not rewrite it from scratch, I felt that would erase the meaning, just change it to see how much my writing has changed and/or improved.)**_

_**So, without further delay, I give you my first and hundredth story on FanFiction. Thank you all for reading, and enjoy!**_

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"I don't want power. I want to be free!" Regina exclaimed, a smile so small it was almost not there smile snaking its way across her features in the hot, bright light. Why couldn't her mother understand? Freedom didn't seem like much to ask for, to hope for. She didn't want to feel like her mother owned her. She wasn't a possession. For Regina, it was something she had yearned for her entire life. But, to her mother, it was a silly frivolity, a childish wish. She had established and focused her entire mindset on one thing; power.

But, the scary thing was, she knew the day where she would give in to her mother's urges and pushing was coming sometime soon. That simple thought changed everything. It was what struck fear into her mind, and that fear was something she soon found impossible to force out of her thoughts.

And that's when it started. She learned of the book, of the man of had taught her mother.

That's when she met him.

As Regina nervously pulled the gold-crested book out from under the folds of the lacy cream-colored pillow, she felt a strange, alluring presence watching her. It was hauntingly familiar, but something she felt she had never known before. But, then again, she wasn't thinking straight now. She quickly swallowed and hastily retreated from the place, heavy book in hand.

Now she stood by the balcony in her room, the moonlight tracing her figure, contrasting with the predominant darkness of the night that lit up the stars, as she stood, absorbed in finding that one name. She paused, smiled to herself, there it was, scribbled in a messy scrawl in dark ink across the rough, yellowing parchment.

But its longevity was too great, so she simply spelled it out. "Rump-le-shtilt... Rumpletshtilstkin, I summon thee!"  
There was that strange sense of a presence again, now more powerful than before, and it called out "That's not how you say it, dearie. But then again, you didn't have to say anything."

What sat there, on the seat, couldn't possibly be a man, Regina thought. As the light of the fire danced against the scale-like insectile skin, it flashed with the orange gleam of the smokey flames somehow, like the way light dances against water. "What are you?" She asked, still recovering from the shock of this strange creature inside her palace.

The creature shifted noticeably and said "What, what, what, my, my! What a rude question!" Regina grimly shifted and swallowed, watching the flashes of light dance against his dark figure.

"Am, not a what." He said, after an inevitably long pause.

"Sorry, I don't really know what I'm doing," was Regina's reply, short-lived and seemingly sheepish.

For some reason unknown to her... being around this stranger felt like being around an old friend that you had broken a promise to. She felt nervous, confused, and somehow... somehow happy. If that was any way to explain the jumbled thoughts swarming around in her head.

He grinned and stood. "That much is clear." Regina would've sent him a scathing glance, but she kept her cool, having to keep the fact in mind that he was right. She didn't like this new side of her, her temper, but she told herself it wasn't important at the moment.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Rumplestilstkin." He grinned, crouching down in a funny kind of bow. For some reason, Regina couldn't help but smile a little at the way he rolled his R's, and she returned the favor in a much-obliged, clumsy curtsy.

She knew that it was considered "ladylike" to always introduce yourself, especially after one has introduced themselves first. That was what her mother had taught her, and her mother certainly wouldn't approve of it if she didn't introduce herself properly, so she opened her mouth. "And I'm-"

"Regina! I know." She shock spreading across her face surprised both of them. Come to think of it, why wouldn't she expect this odd... imp-like creature to know her from previous occasions? She bit her lip. This man certainly liked the element of surprise.

"You do?"

"But, of course!"

Oh.

"Because of my mother, Cora. You taught her?"

He grinned, and slunk across the room like an evil apparition. "My legend precedes me!" he exclaimed, and she let out a nervous laugh, although it came out sounding like more of a snort.

"People say I look like her when she was younger," Regina said, standing up a little straighter, as if doing so would suddenly morph her into a mini-sized version of her mother.

"Really?" Rumplestiltskin looked over her form, squinting a bit, as if processing her image. Little time passed before he said, with an odd sound in his voice, "I don't see it."

Regina looked down, giving him a more serious, intimate look. To be honest, she felt a bit offended. This was her home, her castle, and this man had the nerve to disagree with her?

"No, that's not how I know you," he said, taking another step, the sound of his voice ringing around the room and seeming to reflect off the walls and into his ears.

"Oh, how then?" Regina asked, clutching the book a little more tight than she had before. He was beginning to make her feel uneasy.

"I knew you long ago, dearie. It's been some time, but I knew this day would come. I've been waiting for it." The two were very close now, and although Regina knew she should've been anxious, she was somehow calm.

She felt like she could trust this man with her life. It was an emotion she rarely ever experienced anymore; she couldn't describe it, and yet, it was there, and just talking to him, even if only for a little, that had intensified that feeling. She couldn't really think straight right now... she just felt... numb.

She didn't feel anything at all, hardly. And that wasn't a good thing, she just had to feel something, or she would surely go insane. But, as if on cue, he spoke aloud. "And I'm so glad we're back where we belong!"

"And where's that?" It was a question she was nervous to ask, but one of those questions where you feel like you know the answer and you're just playing along for fun, if that made any sense.

He grinned, approached her from the back, and action that sent sparks of electricity- ice cold chills down Regina's spine.

"Together."


End file.
